The First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art is the biggest event of the year, and the only festival in the world dedicated to memoir and documentary art! They promise to feed your soul and your stomach, entertain and engage your spirit, and take you beyond the borders of your own life experience - with artists as your guide.

For the past two years I have attended at least one of the events during this festival, and I always ended up wishing I could attend everything on the schedule. This is without question the best arts event in Philadelphia.

This year's festival includes a preview dinner with Ruth Reichl,and a folk music concert, Songs for any Depression with Sarah Lee Guthrie, (granddaughter of Woody Guthrie and daughter of Arlo Guthrie) along with Philly based folk duo Kim and Reggie Harris, presenting songs that inspired and empowered common folk through the hardest of times.

Other festival highlights include Salon du Festival, the exhibit Shelter, workshops, book signings, and several Films, including the Philly premiere of William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

First Person Festival details

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skids by Brian Ulrich 2009

Check out Brian Ulrich's excellent Dark Stores series

the edge of uncertainty, 2009

Unseen: A Photographers Salon

"Unseen is an introduction to some of New York’s most promising, hard working, and creative minds in the photography field whose bold ideas, themes, and techniques work to transcend the history of photographic art.

Adam Krause, a third generation Holocaust survivor, creates portraits of Neo Nazis. Nicola Kast, A German, explores and deconstructs German History. Cara Phillips Singular Beauty is a haunting social critique on modern surgical rooms while Phil Toledano’s portraits of plastic surgery patients is a classic aftermath of the surreal. Portrait work by Chad States, Natasha Gornik, Eric McNatt, Richard Renaldi, Bon Duke, and Ryan Pfluger examine the notions of self and the other. Leah Oates and Megan Cump visit serene, painterly landscapes while Nadine Rovner sends us back to retro the seventies through feel and color. Elizabeth Fleming examines the simplicity of the moment in a child’s world, Clayton Cotterell documents his brother now serving in the US military, and Alex Leme searches random urban settings.

As an Art Collector, I address the challenge that most art lovers constantly face… the search of new art and the issues of acquiring work for small spaces. By using the salon style for this show I demonstrate different themes and techniques, presented in a very traditional manner, that work within a confined space. Space should not limit your desire for collecting…the sky is the limit!"

Ruben Natal-San Miguel
Art Collector and UNSEEN curator

Randall Scott Gallery

Randall Scott Gallery
DUMBO
111 Front Street, No. 204, 202.332.0806
October 22 - November 21, 2009
Opening: Thursday, October 22, 6 - 8:30 PM

yellow building. philadelphia 2009

these hard times continue...

I discount what I read and hear with a well earned pessimism.
As a photographer, I trust only my eyes.

Irving Penn (1917-2009)

"He was a purist who mistrusted perfect beauty, which brought an engaging tension to his fashion photographs as well as his still lifes and portraits."

from Penn's obituary in the Los Angeles Times by Mary Rourke





...and one of my favorite photographs

...sat in the parking lot for a few moments listening to the Phillies game. Hot Dog ... a Water Ice...and the wild October wind blowing clouds past a pink mountain. The only thing missing is Harry Kalas...baseball on the radio just isn't the same without that voice.

like listening to a Red Sox game....